Hearing Loss - Plugged Ears

[cyberprof]

OK, so I'm about to go crazy here. This is not really a celiac question but I trust the wisdom here and am just bouncing ideas.

Of course, I'm celiac on gluten-free diet. I'm pretty strict but I do have to eat out for my job occasionally. Have had one or two small CC incidents in the past month but nothing major.

Three weeks ago, I woke up one morning with no hearing. Both ears "blocked" like when you are on an airplane and they feel like they need to "pop". Somewhat painful at times, comes and goes. I waited a week and then went to doctor and she said "There's nothing I can do...take sudafed." I hate sudafed and hadn't tried it but have been on it now continuously for a week (the

[Bubba's Mom]

I've had unexplained ear pressure/pain with a loss of balance. I saw an ENT and had all sorts of tests. It showed up nothing.

I was told to avoid any foods I thought might be causing it.

I was told it could be a reaction to a food or it could be a "silent migraine" triggered by a food or something in my environment. Not very helpful.

Mine seems to have resolved after increasing the Amitriptylene I was taking. It's a migraine preventing medication.

[ciamarie]

I have had precisely this issue, and while it's not a good thing, I'm glad I'm not the only one! Sometimes my ears get 'weepy' along with being blocked. And of course, gluten made them itchy too. So being gluten-free helps a lot with the itchy-ness, but for the swelling / blocking issue, I've finally figured out that it's primarily MSG and sulfites that I need to avoid. I just figured out the sulfite part of the equation about a month ago, or so.

Let me know if you'd like some resources / links and HTH!

[squirmingitch]

It may not be food related at all either. My hubs gets literally "plugs" of wax that the nurse or doc has to pluck out with a tool like tweezers. The plug actually makes a loud sound when it hits the metal catch pan. He never gets anything out of his ears when he cleans them; it's like his wax is so hard it never runs. Sorry to be so detailed but..... When he gets the plugs it affects his hearing a lot. And this is not something either that they just do the ear wash for these are actual plugs of hard wax. They also give a feeling of pressure for him.

Just throwing the info. out there for you.

[cyberprof]

  On 6/29/2012 at 2:22 AM, ciamarie said:

I have had precisely this issue, and while it's not a good thing, I'm glad I'm not the only one! Sometimes my ears get 'weepy' along with being blocked. And of course, gluten made them itchy too. So being gluten-free helps a lot with the itchy-ness, but for the swelling / blocking issue, I've finally figured out that it's primarily MSG and sulfites that I need to avoid. I just figured out the sulfite part of the equation about a month ago, or so.

Let me know if you'd like some resources / links and HTH!

Ciamarie, I'd like the resources. Thanks for the help!

[cyberprof]

  On 6/29/2012 at 2:32 AM, squirmingitch said:

It may not be food related at all either. My hubs gets literally "plugs" of wax that the nurse or doc has to pluck out with a tool like tweezers. The plug actually makes a loud sound when it hits the metal catch pan. He never gets anything out of his ears when he cleans them; it's like his wax is so hard it never runs. Sorry to be so detailed but..... When he gets the plugs it affects his hearing a lot. And this is not something either that they just do the ear wash for these are actual plugs of hard wax. They also give a feeling of pressure for him.

Just throwing the info. out there for you.

Thanks the doc said I had no wax problems - she could see the eardrum well.

[Chad Sines]

I have had this issue on and off since an infant. Finally tracked it to dairy. I get sinus-y and congested with a lot of dairy, but even small amounts trigger Eustachian tube issues that make the eyes clogged. Went away pretty quick when I eliminated dairy.

[cyberprof]

  On 6/29/2012 at 3:20 PM, Chad Sines said:

I have had this issue on and off since an infant. Finally tracked it to dairy. I get sinus-y and congested with a lot of dairy, but even small amounts trigger Eustachian tube issues that make the eyes clogged. Went away pretty quick when I eliminated dairy.

Thanks Chad. I think that's something I'll have to do. Since my DS is gluten-free/DF and my DD is mostly gluten-free/DF, going DF will be easy for me (but sad).

I've read here and other places that giving up dairy helps with sinus issues, so it must be similar. I'll start with diary and if that doesn't help, I'll try eliminating tomatoes, melons and kiwi.

[ciamarie]

  On 6/29/2012 at 4:32 AM, cyberprof said:

Ciamarie, I'd like the resources. Thanks for the help!

You're welcome. I actually hope it's dairy in your case, because that's easier to avoid than MSG and sulfites, in many cases. Except for butter, I was dairy free for about a year or so, now I have plain yogurt with my own added fruit, and cheese on occasion. Still testing the cheese.

A couple of good sites for sulfites:

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

As well as a thread I found on here:

For MSG:

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

I also thought I'd mention that my ears don't seem to always react right away after having something I should have avoided, though sometimes they'll start ringing louder. But then they'll get blocked up at night when I'm sleeping, and it will take 2 days for them to unblock. Also, I'll usually get a headache too.

[Kamma]

I'm with ciamarie on this as I too have eliminated msg, soy, caffeine, nitrates and sulfites as recommended by my neurologist who suspected I had migraine (silent) associated vertigo. The above foods act as a trigger. Along with the vertigo my ears would pain me incessantly.

Since eliminating all the above foods, my ear issues have resolved.

That 'truthinlabeling' website that ciamarie gave is awesome. It's amazing (and infuriating) how much msg is snuck into food under other names.